Seen today

[Peter]

Some sparrows on our bird feeder, which probably means food may be starting to get scarce for them as haven't had any for ages. Did strip and clean the feeder a few weeks back just to be safe with bird flu

Don't eat from the same feeder as the birds - you'll be fine.

[rafletcher]

Along with the usuals blue- and great tits, sparrows, robins and goldfinches we had a lesser spotted woodpecker and a blackcap, both female.

[rafletcher]

Today we had a male and female blackcap on the feeders at the same time. And a little later a rat cleaning up dropped food, although this is usually the preserve of squirrels, pigeons and chaffinches - the latter aren’t generally too good at perching on the seed feeders.

[Canardly]

Red crested Woodpecker yesterday. Not often seen in the garden.

[rafletcher]

Red crested Woodpecker yesterday. Not often seen in the garden.

Given it’s a native of North America that rarity is not a surprise!

[Peter]

Possibly greater spotted, whose male has a red patch on the neck - they visit gardens.  Green woodpecker might visit what a stately home might call a garden but would be rare in a "normal" one.  But it has a beautiful red stripe on its head - all sexes.

[Mrs Pingu]

Today we had a male and female blackcap on the feeders at the same time. And a little later a rat cleaning up dropped food, although this is usually the preserve of squirrels, pigeons and chaffinches - the latter aren’t generally too good at perching on the seed feeders.

May depend on your perches, I got some ring perches to go on ours, as apparently some birds like to sit face on, while others prefer side on. The chaffinches seem happy enough with them.
https://www.reallywildbirdfood.co.uk/feeder-accessories/perch-rings-for-ring-pull--feeders/rpr-

[rafletcher]

We've Squirell Busters (very neccessary where we are), so essentially ring perches. I think it's just a preference. Some robins will perch, other wont.

[Jaded]

Ouch...

(click to show/hide)

[PaulR]

^ouch indeed

I went out to the tractor field to see if a barn owl would put in an appearance.  While I waited, a flock of canada geese flew over, led by a mute swan.  I also had a chiffchaff perch next to me.  After nearly an hour, a owl appeared briefly.  By then it was really too dark for photos, but that rarely stops me trying.
wolly by PaulRide, on Flickr

[tonyh]

Brilliant! Thanks.

[T42]

Brilliant is right - it's tremendous.  Not just catching the owl, but the entire picture: competition material.

---o0o---

Yesterday as I was fighting the wind along the Marne-Rhine canal I saw a soot-black duck-shaped bird with a partly-yellow bill taking off from the water.  Annoyingly I had to navigate round a brace of dog-walkers a second or two later, and when I looked back it was gone.  Oiseaux.net suggests it was a Black Scoter.

[andrew_s]

Yesterday as I was fighting the wind along the Marne-Rhine canal I saw a soot-black duck-shaped bird with a partly-yellow bill taking off from the water.  Annoyingly I had to navigate round a brace of dog-walkers a second or two later, and when I looked back it was gone.  Oiseaux.net suggests it was a Black Scoter.

Unlikely.
Much more likely to be a blackish farmyard/park mallard type duck.

Scoters are almost entirely a maritime species at this time of year, and the Black Scoter is a North American species anyway, as the latin name implies. There's the similar Common Scoter, with a small amount of yellow, but even that's unlikely in an inland area.

[T42]

Yesterday as I was fighting the wind along the Marne-Rhine canal I saw a soot-black duck-shaped bird with a partly-yellow bill taking off from the water.  Annoyingly I had to navigate round a brace of dog-walkers a second or two later, and when I looked back it was gone.  Oiseaux.net suggests it was a Black Scoter.

Unlikely.
Much more likely to be a blackish farmyard/park mallard type duck.

Scoters are almost entirely a maritime species at this time of year, and the Black Scoter is a North American species anyway, as the latin name implies. There's the similar Common Scoter, with a small amount of yellow, but even that's unlikely in an inland area.

I thought it a bit of a stretch too, but that page I referenced has a distribution map that covers most of the northern hemisphere; and even though we are ~500k from the sea here I see gulls almost every time I ride along the canal. The thing was dead black, too, apart from the very striking yellow on the bill.

The weather has been so half-arsed lately I wouldn't be surprised to see an off-course vulture.

[andrew_s]

I thought it a bit of a stretch too, but that page I referenced has a distribution map that covers most of the northern hemisphere

The distribution map in your link was well dodgy.
It's whole countries only, so the population around the Bering Strait colours the whole of Russia, and adding in the odd vagrant colours the UK, France etc.
There are more meaningful distribution maps in the wikipedia pages I linked.

[T42]

ISWYM.  I'll keep an eye out next time I'm down that way but I've been riding along there for the last 25 years and that's the first time I've seen anything like it. Mallard, swans, herons & gulls are common as get out and Canada geese are not unusual lately.

[SteveC]

Yesterday lunchtime, in our back garden, a male bullfinch.
A few minutes later, a pair of great spotted woodpeckers on the top of the telegraph pole, also in the back garden.
We get both infrequently, but I'm not sure we've ever had a pair of woodpeckers.

[Wobbly John]

I regularly see up to a dozen deer in fields on my way to work. Over the last week about a dozen migratory swans (Whooper or Berwick) have taken over an area of one of the deer’s fields.
Much nearer the road I have had a huge heron fly along side me twice this week, and got to within about 3 metres of a barn owl hunting in the ditch alongside the road, twice as well.

[Snakehips]

I have just witnessed a pair of foxes on my neighbour's (gently sloping) shed roof having three attempts at producing the next generation.

[PaulR]

A slightly better view today

Barn owl by PaulRide, on Flickr

[Mrs Pingu]

Nice!

[PaulR]

and again last night
g by PaulRide, on Flickr

[Sergeant Pluck]

An excellent shot, Paul, beautiful.

[Flite]

Beautiful

[pcolbeck]

Absolutely beautiful frosty walk this afternoon. Tilly flushed a really big hare that shot through a gap in the hedge and down the hill. 
We are really lucky there are loads of hares round the village.